New Year’s Weekend

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Karen

Brazen Racing puts on many runs, averaging 2 each month. For New Year’s weekend, they offered a half-marathon, 10k and 5k on both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at Lake Chabot. I had trouble deciding which one to do until they announced a mega medal. More on that later. I’m told that if medals are important, Brazen is the outfit to run with.

I’ve spent hours lately combing photo albums. There are several volunteer photographers stationed throughout each course, so with 3 runs on each of 2 days, you can imagine how many thousands of photos there are. All of the photos are uploaded to Picasa, where you can take anything you like for free. As of this writing there are 49 albums to search through. But as you can tell, I did find quite a few photos. Check here if you want to see them all for yourself.

New Year’s Eve 10k

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, Tammy, Debbie and I did the 10k, while Steven walked the 5k. Both courses are out and back. The course is comprised of gently rolling hills to the 5k turnaround and for a short stretch after that. Then you climb a steep hill to the 10k turnaround, and then come back down that same steep hill. I could tell by the elevation chart that we would have an elevation change of about 700 feet, so Debbie and I trained in the hills near my house the last couple of weeks. We also added a little elevation to the treadmill on indoor training days. Even so, I was not at all prepared for the grade or length of that hill. My knee is still not happy about it. “Hill” is now our new 4-letter bad word!

Here we are near the 10k turnaround at the top of the hill. In the order we reached the top, there’s Tammy’s friend Doreen and Tammy, Debbie, and then me. [I stopped to make sure I had the photographer’s attention, as there were few good photos of me at my last two events.]

I managed to go off-course after I came off the hill, though the spot was well marked. The additional 0.3 mi and that hill added 25 minutes to my best time. I asked, but they don’t give out medals for Dead Last Finisher in my age group. But Steven did earn a medal! After the results were posted, we discovered that he was second in his age group. [Out of 2, but he still qualifies!]

Here are each of us crossing the finish line, in no particular order.

I was finally handed a participation medal! Grape Stomp gave medals to only the half-marathoners; Nitro Turkey ran out of participant medals before I was done; Bah Humbug! used to give ornaments, but didn’t this year. So this is the first time a medal was actually handed to me. Debbie shot this of me with her phone:

And here are the four of us at the end of the race. The picture was taken on Debbie’s phone, by a nice complete stranger.

For this occasion, I wore a winter-themed shirt.

I found a feather-and-tinsel boa at Michaels’ craft store, along with some foam snowflake stickers. I used long whip-stitches to attach the boa. I dipped each snowflake in talcum powder to remove the “sticky”, and then sewed them down also. I sewed the remaining length of boa around the bottom hem of the shirt for completeness, but as soon as I tried the shirt on, I knew that wouldn’t fly. It was too restricting around my hips, so I cut it back off. I received many compliments on my shirt during the run.

The weather was clear and quite frigid this morning, somewhere in the low 40s. I had been hoping for the same slightly warmer overcast we had had the last few days. We kept our sweatshirts on as long as possible, checking our bags at the last minute.

The events on Saturday were sold out, with 1,088 runners finishing. Jerry graciously provided transportation that day, stuck around ‘til we all finished, and joined us for breakfast at JD’s in Castro Valley.

New Year’s Day 5k

This morning’s events were less crowded, with 800-odd finishers. Debbie drove, and we had no trouble finding a parking spot in the lot. Tammy, Debbie and I did the 5k. It seemed colder this morning, but I ran in just a T-shirt again. We ran just the gently rolling hills today, with an elevation change (according to the map) of about 165 feet, though it didn’t seem nearly that high.

I ran more slowly today than I did at the Bah Humbug! 5k, because my knee was bothering me from yesterday’s hill.

Here we are on a foot-bridge just before the finish line area:

And here we are at the finish:

Debbie was quite the cheerleader both days, shouting encouragement to other runners and tooting her party horn.

For finishing, we received another medal, plus a 3^rd center part that “connects” to Saturday’s medal, creating a mega medal.

We had breakfast afterwards with Tammy’s friends Doreen and Kerry at Doug’s in Castro Valley. I’m sure on Tammy’s normal training day, breakfast is well organized. [In fact, I know they choose where to train that day based on where they want to eat afterwards.] But today getting them on board was like herding cats! I’m glad they came to breakfast: their company made for fun and interesting conversation.

My favorite costume was worn by this New Year’s Day half-marathoner #54.

Bah Humbug!

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Karen

I sure have run a lot of races lately! Nine days after the Nitro Turkey on Thanksgiving Day, Debbie, Steven and I did the Bah Humbug! 5k run put on by the city of San Ramon. There were supposed to be 6 of us, but Ashton, Misty and Gabe stayed away with the flu.

Debbie dressed us in fine style. We were each to be a family Christmas tree. The shirt was forest green. Ornaments on the back featured photos of the 6 of us, with the owner of the shirt top-most. There was “tinsel” in the form of glitter glue. We each wore a necklace of blinking Christmas lights. And a visor with the tree-topping star completed the outfit.

The morning was clear, but quite frigid and windy. As soon as we received our long-sleeved participant shirts, we put them on under our “tree” shirts. Here we are in all our finery:

Paul came to see us cross the finish line, but made it there early enough for the starting gun. He shivered around waiting for us each to cross.

Debbie crossed first. She and Paul missed each other, so no photo. Then Debbie came back to find me and we went in together. Here’s me crossing the finish line. A volunteer popped up in front of Paul just then, really POing Paul.

Debbie and I then both went back to find Steven. Here’s Steven (and me) crossing the line:

Here’s the back of the shirt. Debbie and I had to get out of the chute after Steven finished so as not to confuse the volunteers.

San Ramon puts on a nice post-race spread. We had our choice of fruits, pastries and ice creams. Then it was time for the awards. We were trying for the “Best Group” award. Here we are trying to explain what we were:

But we had no chance for an award. Small children were taking the awards, no matter how hard the adults worked at their costumes. If Gabe had been there, we might have had a chance. And we didn’t stick around for the age-group awards. Fat chance!

Breakfast at Ruggie’s afterward was delicious!

Recent knitting

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Karen

The knitting category seemed the easiest to tackle next. I keep my hands constantly busy in the evenings with my knitting, and hit on the idea of making many of these Habitat hats. [I finished mine in May and one for Debbie in dusty pink tweed in July]. I loved the intricacy of the pattern so much that in total I made seven of them!

The pink one for Misty is made of Cascade Yarns Cloud 9, 50% wool/50% angora. The other four are Valley Yarns Superwash DK, 100% extrafine merino, in [clockwise from pink] silver, burgundy, forest, and colonial blue. They did or will go to Steven, Paul, Jerry and Ashton. All hats are made with US #7 and #8 needles, although I’m currently re-knitting the burgundy hat from the ribbing up because I forgot to increase the needle size when I started the charts! I thought the hats would take one skein each, and was unpleasantly surprised when I ran out in the middle of the crown. Oddly, WEBS still had the exact same dye lot in each of the four colors, so I was saved.

I’ve also knit hats for Sage and Gabe.

Sage’s pink one is made of Plymouth Yarns Baby Alpaca DK and US #6 needles in the pattern Snowshoes from the booklet Need A Hat? by Cabin Fever. It has a slipped-stitch pattern that resembles a cable, and was knit from the bottom up. Gabe’s green one is leftover Valley Superwash DK and US #6 needles in the pattern Igloo from the same book. It is knit from the top down, and I added a little I-cord stem at the top for interest.

BTW, the patterns in this book are great! They work with any yarn, any needles. Some are knit from the top down, some from the bottom up. The patterns are all 8-stitch repeats, so they are interchangeable from hat to hat. Wonderful! Just make sure you swatch carefully first.

I left the tiny ball of leftover alpaca on the ironing board as a reminder to document the hats. It managed to stay there for a week before one of the cats discovered it and un-raveled it all over the studio and the kitchen.

The Tea Rose baby blanket is my current fall-back project, still in progress. I’ve finished the center and am now working on the ruffled border. Instead of knitting the border separately then sewing it on to the center, I decided to knit it on as I go. I began with a provisional cast-on (so it should be seamless), and I catch a loop of the center at the middle and end of each border repeat. The corner and top edge are a challenge, but it seems to be working so far.

Sweeping out the old…

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Karen

Happy New Year! Since the new year is upon us, it’s time for me to sweep out the old one.

I’m woefully behind in this blog, so have decided to break my posts into categories. First I’ll present a few miscellaneous things. I hope in the near future to get caught up on all the fun around here.

In mid-October, I did this Mystery 62 from Paper Panache. I could tell from the foundations that it was going to be a pumpkin, so I finished it up in time to use it as a Halloween decoration. I sent a photo to the web site, and had my photo posted, as I was among the early finishers.

In early November, Tere Piper left us for family in New York. I think she was just waiting for her husband to retire so she could move back. She had been out here about 10 years, and was well-loved in the quilting community. I worked with Tere at the quilt shop, where she taught as well. She also taught at the adult school in Pleasant Hill. Her surprise going-away party was well-attended, with guild members, fellow employees, and students. Each made a signature block of batiks, for her to assemble later. She apparently kept herself well in control: when Tammy and I arrived quite late because of traffic, Tammy was the first one to make her cry! Here’s the whole group. You can just see the blocks in back.

The day after Thanksgiving, I went to the Oakland Zoo with Debbie, Gabe, and Braxton. I enjoyed seeing all the animals, but came away with good photos of only the tigers. I love cats of all kinds. The zoo acquired four new tigers when a small family zoo in Texas went out of business due to a divorce. The tigers are beauties! Here are two photos:

In early December, I attended DVQ’s annual holiday party. We had chicken Caesar salad and cornbread, tables and tables of dessert, and a fun round of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” to determine the winner of the centerpiece. The favors this year were quite special, presented in envelopes and made by the ladies in the art-quilt mini-group to which I had belonged for a while. My favor was made by Lynn Douglas, and I love it!

In the “way out of my comfort zone” category, I stenciled an over-shirt for running. When I bought the shirt, I knew I didn’t want white because it was too generic, easily mixed up with others’ clothing. I had this idea in mind to paint on a little flower I’ve been doodling for years. I thought and re-thought how to get it done, and gathered supplies for weeks before attempting to put paint to fabric. I had to find contact paper, borrow Debbie’s paints, save a Styrofoam “palette”, and buy foam pounces and a T-shirt form. Then I had to draw the entire design, cut it out with an X-acto knife, remove the paper, and place the sticky plastic carefully on the shirt. Next I had to practice the pouncing, determining whether or not the colors would bleed in the center of the flower, as I hoped. They didn’t. Finally I applied the paint, beginning in the flower centers, doing the petals, working my way down the stems and leaves, and finally doing the grass at the lower edge. Here my supplies and some actual progress.

For the design, I ended up using templates from a quilt I did many years ago for our first motorhome, because I liked the irregular shapes of the petals. I free-handed the stems, leaves, and the grass along the bottom. After the top was stenciled, I cut away the flower portion and carefully moved the remaining grass to the bottom edge of the back. I also made more grass stencils for the sleeves.

All in all, it turned out quite well. But I returned the paints to Debbie at the earliest opportunity!

Gym bags

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Karen

Ever since the time change, Debbie and I have been going to the gym instead of the track. For this, I was sure I needed a gym bag. So I constructed a small bag based on the “Summer Tote” pattern by Lazy Girl Designs. Instead of fused fabrics, I quilted two layers of cotton together, with polyester batting. I left off the two outside pockets, and put in only one inside pocket. Instead of short handles attached at the top, I used polyester webbing going all the way to the bottom seam for extra strength. I used plastic canvas in the bottom, for structure, instead of sheet acrylic. Other than that, it’s just like the pattern! For the outer fabric, I chose a piece by my favorite designer, Laurel Burch, which I usually hoard because Laurel is no longer with us.

I deposited my new bag in Debbie’s car the other morning for the ride to the Bah Humbug race, and went back in the house for something. When I came out, she was holding my bag in her lap with a very puzzled look on her face. “Why does Karen have a diaper bag”, she wondered. Then the realization came over her face that it was a GYM bag. And when I handed over one for her, she clapped her hands with delight!

Debbie’s bag fabric is by Sherril Kahn, another favorite designer. I don’t think we’ll get these mixed up with other bags at our next race sweat check.

It doesn’t matter what kind of zipper one uses for this bag, because both ends get sewn in and cut off anyway. I happened to use separating coil zippers. Good choice – the separation feature made for easier construction, and the coil was a breeze to sew through.

After I finished photographing the bags for this post, I invited Hannah to try one out:

Nitro Turkey 10k: I would have finished earlier, but…

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Karen

On Thanksgiving Day, Debbie and I ran the Nitro Turkey 10k held by Brazen Racing at Point Pinole Regional Park. Debbie wanted to run that day, and at first we were looking at the Turkey Trot down in San Jose. I was a little leery when I read that the first 17,500 registrants would be guaranteed shirts. 17,500?!? Then Tammy told me about the Nitro Turkey run. I’m SO glad we did that one, as between the 5k and 10k runners there were only 778 of us. Very cozy! [When I saw the news that night, there ended up being at least 21,000 runners in San Jose! I’m so very glad we didn’t go there.]

It was freezing cold that morning, and had been raining on the way in. The rain did stop by the time the race started, but ended up drizzling through most of the race. Debbie and I were both having trouble with some last-minute decisions. Will the sun come out so I need sunglasses? Will I be warm enough without another layer? I opted to leave the sunglasses behind, but to wear my over-shirt. Less than a mile into the run, even though it was drizzling, I was warm enough to take off my over-shirt. I stopped at a bench overlooking the bay. Then, just to remove the shirt, I had to remove my hat and glasses, unpin the bib number, then re-pin the bib to my shirt, and replace the glasses and hat. Next time I should just leave the thing in the car!

My “costume” for the day was simple. Thanksgiving felt like an “orange” day, so I had ordered a pumpkin-colored shirt for the occasion. And I sewed one large wild turkey feather onto my hat.

Debbie’s shirt was a light salmon, with pumpkin stickers stuck on the back to form the Greek letter pi. Get it? Pumpkin pi? She also had a complex visor design with turkeys in the shape of her grandkids’ hands, pictures of the boys’ faces, and colorful feathers across the top.

Before our race started, there was a short race for kids 10 and under. That was so much fun to watch! They raced against Nitro Turkey, who seemed tired and slow. First were the kids old enough to run on their own, followed by the parents carrying or holding hands with the youngest children. Nitro Turkey came in last, for the 3rd year in a row.

The race photographers are all volunteers, and the pictures are put up in the “cloud” for anyone to take for free, so I can’t complain. Here we are coming ‘round the very first turn. Can you find us? I’m on the right, in the white hat and white long-sleeved shirt.

and Debbie’s in her orange, toward the left.

My official race time was 1:41:22, about 10 minutes slower than my last 10k. But there’s little comparison. There was so much to enjoy at Pt. Pinole, and hazards to look out for. I would have finished earlier, but…there was a rainbow, and a heron! And food. And hills, and muck. And potty stops. If I had found the monarch grove, I would have been even slower! And the park smelled glorious, because of the rain and the eucalyptus trees.

Brazen Racing is known to be family-friendly, dog-friendly, etc. There were many children and dogs out that day, and a few strollers.

I passed by the 1st water stop. I had been following a clump of women and children who rudely took up the whole width of the trail. When I saw they were stopping, I gladly passed them by. I had my own water anyway.

Mid-way through the course was another photographer. Here I am, just after the rainbow, just coming into (someone else’s) frame.

And then a moment later, sidestepping the worst of the muck.

Here’s Debbie near the same spot:

Debbie’s time was probably much worse than normal: at one point where the course doubles back on itself, she cut back to where I was, and then walked/ran in to the finish line with me! So she was with me when we passed by the 2nd aid stop. She let me know about the food I was missing out on, pretzels and M&M peanuts.

By the time we reached the 3rd water stop I was beginning to get hungry, so I paused (for quite a while) to choose a bite of food. I ended up with pretzels, which were incredibly bad, having sat out in the damp for a couple of hours. (The M&Ms at this stop had no peanuts, and they don’t do well in the damp, either.)

Then the finish line was upon us before I knew it. Debbie asked if I had it in me to run on in. She saw what she thought was the photographer, so we started to run and I discovered it was my friend Ginny! [I knew that our old friends John and Ginny would be at the finish line: Ginny used to run, and was so proud of me for taking up running that she had to be there to support me. And she lives about 10 minutes away.] I stopped and chatted with her for a bit, then realized I should cross the finish line! So Debbie and I ran on across the line together.

There is no photo of us crossing the finish line. Don’t know where that official photographer went! But she did take one of us with Ginny.

We got no participant medals, yet again. Last race, only the half-marathoners received medals. This time there were so many race-day registrants, all faster than me, that they ran out of medals! Our medals should show up in the mail any week now. But Ginny was so proud of me that she gave me my very own medal. And we did get pie and ice cream after the race.

When the results were posted, I found out I was 4th from last, 336 out of 339. I finished ahead of the woman with the newly adopted dog (Alva and Spammy). I had seen them many times out on the course, so knew they were about my pace. And last was the poor man with the arrow in his head (Allen), who also had an unruly dog (Kaya). I “met” them later on FaceBook. They were both trying for the coveted DLF, dead last finish! It was the first race for both dogs. And both humans ran the half-marathon the following Saturday.

The race starting area was not very close to the parking area. So between the race and the trips back and forth to the car, I logged 8.2 miles that morning.

After the race, Debbie and I needed breakfast. The only nearby place open that morning was Panda Express, so we had wonderful Chinese food for “breakfast”. A great finish to a fun morning!

Brazen Racing can be found here.

More knitted FOs

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Karen

Daylight Saving Time is done for a while, so I used today’s extra hour to pull the last of the projects off the blocking board, and to put my room back together. The cats are as happy about that as I am!

In the last ten or so days, I have blocked four Finished Objects. First up is Tulips & Rosebuds knit up in pink Dale Baby Ull. Here’s the finished blanket.

The leftover yarn from the pink baby afghan was the correct gauge to do the Vine Lace Baby Hat. It knit up in just two evenings, and then I blocked it by pinning to the smaller end of my pressing ham. [I didn’t have a grapefruit handy].

Next on the board was Estonian Lullaby Baby Blanket in turquoise Plymouth Yarn Baby Boutique. [In case it sounds familiar, this is the 3^rd time I’ve made this pattern. My fingers love it!] The yarn was quite thick and springy. I maybe should have used a larger needle with this one. And because the fiber is man-made, I knew it wouldn’t block nicely, so I did just the plain garter stitch edging, instead of the lace I prefer. Here’s the finished blanket and two photos from blocking.

And, only 11 months late, I finished Utlinde’s 2010 Advent Scarf. Ta Da! It’s almost time to start looking for patterns again! As with the Advent Calendar Scarf, I knit every motif. So this scarf knit up to a whopping 14”x99”. When I drape it over my neck, it reaches toe to toe! I used white Zephyr, the same yarn as in the Winter scarf, so this scarf is not as snow-white as I would like, either. Here’s the finished scarf and close-ups of several of my favorite motifs.

My fingers are still busy with the yellow Tea Rose Baby Blanket.

A few links: Tulips & Rosebuds, Estonian Lullaby Baby Blanket. Utlinde’s Advent Scarf can be found here in Ravelry. The Vine Lace Baby Hat pattern can be found on Knitting Daily and Ravelry.

First trip to the gym

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Karen

Debbie and I were off to another inauspicious start last night. We met at her gym because our track was in use. Her gym membership allows her to bring a guest, so my inaugural run was free to me. When she emailed directions about time and place, I neglected to read the very last words about where to meet. My brain had stopped processing by then, because I knew how to get there. So we wasted 10 minutes while I waited inside the gym, and she waited out in its entrance.

We found two treadmills side by side. Debbie showed me a few buttons, started mine, and I was off and walking. Eventually I upped the speed to something resembling jogging. She set hers for a 5K run, and was off.

I have no idea how "far" I went last night because I accidentally hit the emergency stop button 3 times before I knew it was even there; each time I would have to restart the program, so I lost track of my mileage. But I’ll have lots of chances to get smarter than the machine, as by next week it’ll be too dark to run at the track.

Because I was new to all this, I came unprepared, without water, towel, or something to listen to. Debbie provided a towel. I figured I’d be so busy learning the treadmill that I wouldn’t need listening material – true. And I decided against a water bottle, knowing the gym would have a fountain – also true. So, I stopped for water once during the run, and put the machine on pause. When I returned, it had timed out, and I had to start the program over then, too.

I gave myself credit for 2.5 miles anyway. Next time I’ll just hit the “5K” button and keep my hands off the rail. And I won’t forget a water bottle, a towel, and some headphones. There are 14 TV screens, with 10 channels of commercials – er, news – to watch.

After the run, we used Debbie’s favorite machine (which I could hardly reach!) to do some stretching. Then we went to the back corner of the cozy “women’s” machine room, and finished our usual stretches in there.

I had one weird experience. When I stepped off the machine and walked to the water fountain, the room seemed to come at me faster than I was walking. What tricks the brain can play!

Knits finished and in progress

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Karen

I’m having trouble getting motivated to work on my Fruition quilt – the inner curves are giving me fits. So I decided to block some knits that have been finished for a while.

First up is Autumn, the 3^rd of my Four Seasons Scarves by Fiddlesticks Knitting. It is done in the Amber colorway of Fiddlesticks’ Exquisite Yarn.

Next is Winter, the final of the Four Seasons Scarves. I knit this one in white Zephyr, which isn’t quite as white as I would like. I wanted a bright, snow-white color, but the Zephyr is a light natural “sheep” color.

BTW, have you seen Fiddlesticks’ new Misty Vales Stole? I may have to make that one soon. It’s stunning!

The Tulips & Rosebuds Baby Blanket by Eugen Beugler is currently on the blocking board. I have no need for any more baby afghans (I’m already 3 ahead!), but I knew from the moment I saw this pattern that I was going to make it.

The leftovers turned out to be just the right gauge for a tiny cap, the Vine Lace Baby Hat which I’ve just started.

I also started yet another afghan, because I had to have it, too, when I saw it in the WEBS Fall 2011 catalog! My fingers are loving the Valley Superwash DK and the Tea Rose Baby Blanket. The flowers are interesting: the leaves are a sort-of slip stitch done with a crochet hook (which I keep losing), and the flower is an abbreviated bobble.

Now the links: Four Seasons Scarves, Misty Vales Stole, Tulips & Rosebuds Baby Blanket, and the Tea Rose Baby Blanket. The Vine Lace Baby Hat can be found on Knitting Daily and Ravelry.

Grape Stomp finish official photograph

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Karen

I purchased the official photograph of me crossing the finish line. I figured since it was my very first activity since becoming a couch potato 40 years ago, I may as well spring for a good copy!

You can find more race photos at www.backprint.com/evanpilchik

Adventures of Paul and Karen

While traveling or just looking for something to do, we’ll update this blog for our friends